Q: Lion WiFi Connection Problem

I'm having similar wifi problems since installing Lion:

- MacBookPro6,2 (2010), 15-inch, 8 GB Ram, Core i7 2.66GHz

- I did a clean install of Lion (rather than an upgrade) and copied over SOME preferences (mail, iTunes, etc)

- Using a dual band Airprt Extreme and dual-band Airport Express, each with the latest firmware

My wifi signal does not drop off or come and go as some here have described.  My problem: wifi does not automatically reconnect after I restart the Mac - no matter how long I wait.  So far, the most successful step has been to turn off Wifi from the Wifi menu in the menu bar, though sometimes I have to do this two or five times. One reconnected, wifi remains connected - until I restart my Mac.

None of the workrounds syggested throughout this thread have resolved the issue.

I experienced no such wifi issues while using Snow Leopard.

-Peter

Add my name to the list of problems since upgrading to Lion... no WiFi since I upgraded! But worst of all, no access to my ethernet connection. The network shows I have a good connection but nothing works: no email, no internet, nothing. I went two days without getting access to anything.

I'm waiting for those fixes!

I have just got my WiFi to work by going into Network in System Prefs, clicking on Advanced, deleting the network and manually entering the name, security type and password. How long it will work is anyone's guess. Try it.

Tried that and had no luck. I've tried pretty much everything and the only thing that restores my internet for 30 mins to an hour is resetting the SMC, which is a pain to say the least.

I would like to point out to you all though, this thread has over 8000 views now, way more than any other issues that have been flagged up here thus far, i'm guessing the wifi issues must be pretty widespread.

Before anyone else suggests their own miracle cure to this widespread problem, could you at least test it for a day, restart, reboot etc.   This whole thread smacks of a very unscientific approach to problem solving!

I have the same problem. If I close my macbook and then open it the wifi connection is dropped. Signal shows strong but it will not connect to wifi. Restarting was the only way to fix it.

No problems previously with snow leopard.

Dear Nicholas,

there are a lot of engineers at Apple, THEY must resolve the problem at this level of OS!

Why should I stay for 24 hours or much in front of a display?

Walter

I have a 2010 iMac and have never had WiFi problems using Snow Leopard or prior versions of OS X. My problem with Lion is that WiFi will not restart after using the single press on the power button method to enter sleep/standby. Once WiFi is running then no issues with dropping connection etc.

My WiFi fix is not elegant but it works:

Walk away from the machine and let energy saver sleep takeover. When woken WiFi is ready to go - in energy saver sleep WiFi is always on.

Dave

What I would like to happen is for Apple to actually give us some indication that they are working on the problem and give us an update.  I dumped Microsoft for all of the updates and holes in their OS.  Come on Apple... youve been awesome ever since I switched teams a little over 6 yrs ago.  Give us a courtesy update.

Same problem here. It says no hardware installed. After one reboot is working fine, speed is normal everything is normal, but only after a reboot. It's not all the time, but at least 1 in 4 which i never had in snow leopard, so for me, it is denfinitly a Lion problem. Hope they will solve it soon.

"What I've also seen on the Airport network is a popup saying my IP is in use by another machine. This is impossible as all machines are using DHCP, this problem has never showed up under SL. Also lots of times my Airport network shows as two identical networks in the available network list."

I have also been getting this message for a long time - even before installing Lion. However, when I do a WiFi scan using the WiFiGet Scan app on my iPhone there no such device on the local network! My fix is to reboot one of the Airport Express devices (doesn't seem to matter which one) and this magically fixes the problem.

Currently my WiFi appears to be working under Lion on our 4-year-old iMac but I'm afraid to upgrade the rest of our family MacBooks at this time.

Good luck everyone.

Shaun, I bought my (very expensive) MBP earlier this year to escape the constant frustration of trying to work with PCs/Microsoft - so I'm a MacBook novice!

The MacBook came equipped with Snow Leopard and worked faultlessly - I was delighted with both performance and user-friendliness.

Given Apple's great reputation for quality, I installed Lion without hesitation as soon as it became available. Perhaps naively, I never expected Microsoft-style problems in an Apple software release!

You won't be surprised to learn that I now have exactly the same problem with wi-fi connectivity as yourself - when waking from sleep mode Safari reports 'You are not connected to the Internet', even though the Wi-Fi indicator shows 'Wi-Fi: ON'. (This is constantly alternating with 'Looking for Networks...').

When I run diagnostics the system reports the internet connection is good.

If I then close & relaunch Safari, it comes back OK.

I NEVER HAD A WI-FI CONNECTIVITY PROBLEM WITH THE PREVIOUS SOFTWARE.

I have communicated twice with the support people at Apple and both times they had me alter various settings in system prefs - all to no avail.

So, deeply disappointed that I spent all that money and seem to have a flawed product and a useless support service; eagerly awaiting the fix....

I think I got my problem solved.  This may help others.  When ever my computer sat idle or went to sleep it would loos WI-FI and then I would manually have to reconnect.  It appears after the upgrade to LION it changed and network setting that is causing this to work this way.

Goto SETTINGS > NETWORK > WI-FI and make sure "Ask to Join New Networks" is CHECKED.

This will keep you logged into your default network.  This worked for me.

That does not work for me.

The problem is that there seems to be a bug in DHCP handshaking protocols and most times the affected Mac does not get a correct IP address, etc. When you see it with a full strength wifi icon but cannot connect, check in the Network settings for wifi and I'd bet there is an internally assigned IP address and no router or DNS.

I gave up for the time being because Apple clearly needs to address this. What has worked around the problem has been to use a USB Planex GW-USnano stick (very small) and install the 10.6 drivers from Planex along with the wifi utility—started up first time and found all the local wifi networks.  Even Internet sharing works via Ethernet to GW-USnano with adhoc network. Cost is about $5.

I suppose Apple will eventually get around to a patch, but this has left a sour taste, not least because of the lack of any communication from Apple that this has happened to people who have spent hard earned cash.

Come on Apple, there are almost 9000 views in 5 days and 133 posts—speak.